Ride 1

Nashua River Rail trail trial ride…

My first ride, to wring out the (red-winged) Huffy, was a few easy kilometers on the Nashua River Rail Trail.



It went well. The front rim was not quite true, so a brake pad rubbed lightly at the high spot, which dragged down coasting. The rear derailleur traveled a tad too far inward, enough to make chain clatter, but not enough to drop the chain. The bike was remarkably stable, and I rode hands-free on the first try.

So, I began the bike clean-up. I removed everything to do a decent cleaning.

The most interesting find was at the bottom bracket and crank. To my surprise they were not square taper, but some kind of octagonal lobe.



The rh crank is two separate pieces – crank arm, and chainrings. Correct, the double chainrings (with chain guard) have no bolt circle; they are one integral piece. I now know that “Shimano Adamas,” was a short-lived group in the early 80’s.





The bottom bracket spun smoothly, so I left it as-is. The small ring has 40 teeth, which will do, so no Stronglight crank is in the plans (despite rumors that the bike was actually produced by Motobecane, or maybe Carlton).

Since the handlebar grips were shot, I’m replacing the steel handlebars with used alloy bars I had on hand. They were already taped, with Dia-Compe brake levers like the originals. While in the area, and since I didn’t want to redo cables later, I replaced the heavy stem shifters with a lighter plastic set.

Last but also least, I added clamp-on cable stops for the shift cables, and ditched the full-length housings.

So, my first weight reductions are done. The handlebars alone should yield a couple hundred grams!

For reference, the frame and fork stripped down, with the bottom bracket, weighed 4.1 kilograms (9 pounds). I’m going to use metric numbers since I’m riding 100 km.